Flaming Hearts
by brabbit1029
Summary: AU-Lucy Heartfilia was kidnapped on a mission with her friends. She managed to escape, but a mysterious creature caught her attention, and she ended up saving it. But it turned out to be...a human! At least, that's what she thought. Who is this strange, pink-haired boy, or more importantly...what is he?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail! I only own the plot and OCs!**

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**Chapter One: Fiery Encounter**

"Let me out of here!"

Lucy Heartfilia gripped the bars of her holding cell and hollered out in exasperation.

"Hello?! Anyone?! LET ME OUT!" The blonde mage sighed, leaning her head on the bars. "I can't believe I got captured..."

Under normal circumstances, she would've been able to break out with ease, but unfortunately the people who had taken her had made sure to take away her gate keys, the very source of her magic. She couldn't do anything physically either since metal cuffs restrained her hands tightly.

Lucy was a celestial spirit mage of Fairy Tail, the only guild in the city of Magnolia, known for causing destruction wherever they went. She had been on a mission to turn in a criminal. Unfortunately, he had been a member of a large dark guild called Black Beast, so she was outnumbered and kidnapped in the process.

"Heyyyy!" Lucy called out to the two Black Beast wizards posted outside her cell. Attempting to appeal to their male instincts, she made a revealing pose with one eye closed. "Will you pleeeeease let me out?"

"How disgusting." One of the men in front of her cell scowled.

"She's really annoying, isn't she?"

"WHAT?!" Lucy, offended, lashed out at the wizards, but they stepped just out of her reach. "How dare you! Get back here so I can kill you!"

The two wizards, fed up with Lucy, left, safely knowing that she had no way of escaping.

"This is hopeless!" Lucy wailed. She leaned against the wall of her cell, wondering if there was any chance of her escaping.

"Everyone else is probably searching for me, but I can't just stay here like this." Lucy mumbled to herself. "First these jerks illegally trade magical creatures, and now this?!"

The pegasus locked up across from her let out a pitiful whine, it's wings tattered and legs sprawled out on the ground beneath its dehydrated body.

"This is just too cruel...!" Lucy eyed the pegasus with sympathy. She looked at it straight in the eye. "Don't worry! I'll free you and all the other animals here for sure!"

_"But first, I've got to get myself out of here."_

She looked around for anything that could help here escape. "Is there really nothing I can-"

"_RAAAAAAAAAWWRRRR!"_

She was interrupted by a loud, deafening roar that shook the entire building. All the other animals shrieked in fear, while Lucy lost her balance and fell onto her back. The sound ripped through her entire ody, sending shivers down her spine. She felt an overwhelmingly strong source of magic in the air, and the temperature seemed to increase ten-fold. A bright red light, like the shadows of a fire enveloped the corridor along with a loud explosion that boomed within every cell.

"Wh-what's that?!" She could barely hear her own voice as she struggled to keep her ear drums from popping.

"It's acting up again!" She heard voices cry out.

"Calm down, you disgusting beast!"

Loud thuds sounded from the end of the hall. The unknown beast let out another roar before another loud thud and a zapping sound that sounded like someone casting magic ceased the deafening cry. Lucy slowly sat herself back up, heart thumping in her chest.

"Wh-what was...that?" She spoke in a soft whisper, ears still ringing. She noticed the pegasus now shivering in the corner of its cell.

"A demon...?" She blinked a few times to get the aftereffects of the strange event from her head. The roar still echoed in her ears, as if she could still hear it. It had sounded absolutely angry, but at the same time...

...sad.

"Go get Gregor-san!"

A crowd of guards ran past her. A few of them stopped near her cell.

"Are you really sure it's a good idea to keep that thing here?" One muttered.

"At this rate, we're going to be killed!"

"Shhhh! That Fairy Tail girl can here you! That creature's a secret, remember?!"

_"A secret...?"_ She pondered on what they meant when a sudden glint on the belt of one of the guards caught her eye. She took a closer look, then gasped. They were a ring of golden and silver keys, jangling as the guard moved.

_"My keys!"_ Her face filled with hope. _"Lucky!"_

Holding her breath, she scooted forward as silently as possible until she was right in front of the bars. Biting her lip in concentration, she reached her bounded hands through the bars as far as she could. Unfortunately, she couldn't reach her keys by just a few inches.

_"Just...a little bit closer...!"_

"What are you guys doing?!" Lucy almost banged her head against the bars due to the sudden shout. "Hurry up!"

Just as they started to move, the guard with her keys came within her reach. In one swift movement, Lucy grabbed the keys just as the guards left.

"Yes!" Lucy squealed triumphantly. "I did it!"

She grabbed one of her golden keys and began to chant. "Open! Gate of the Maiden!"

A flash of gold blinded her for a moment as she summoned one of her celestial spirits.

"Virgo!"

A young maid with short pink hair and blue eyes popped out from the ground, wearing cuffs around her wrists. She bowed down before Lucy. "You called, hime?"

"Can you get these off me?" Lucy held up her hands. "And then dig me a tunnel out of here!"

"Understood." Virgo released Lucy's hands from the cuffs with ease. Once she was done, she closed her eyes, and a golden magic circle formed beneath her feet. A second later, a hole appeared in the ground, and she disappeared under it. Almost instantly, a hole formed on the other side of Lucy's cell. Out came Virgo, who bowed once again.

"It is done."

"Thanks, Virgo!" Lucy climbed through the tunnel, and with the help of Virgo, heaved herself up onto the ground.

"Hime, have you put on some weight?" Asked Virgo nonchalantly. Lucy snapped at her, embarrassed. "Shut up! You can go back now!"

"Be careful." Virgo gave her owner one last warning, bowing again, and in a shimmer of light returned to the Spirit world where she belonged.

"Geez, of course I didn't gain any weight!" Lucy looked down and placed a hand on her stomach. But her face told something else entirely. "How rude..."

"Ah, right!" Lucy pounded her fist on the palm of her other hand. She had suddenly remembered where she was. "I have to escape!"

She took one last look around to make sure no guards were present. Then she turned to the pegasus. "I promise I'll rescue you! We'll defeat all these bad guys so you all can be free! Just wait a little longer!"

The pegasus whinnied, as if understanding Lucy. Lucy gave the pegasus one last smile, then began to run.

_"But how do I get out of here?"_ She realized she had no plan in mind. Should she just keep running, beating a few enemies along the way, until she found them?

_"No. I should draw as little attention to myself as possible."_

She turned around the corner and was about to continued running when she noticed more wizards posted at the dead end in front of her and quickly scooted back before she could be spotted.

_"Damn!"_ She pressed herself against the wall. _"I have no idea where I'm going!"_

_"...wait a minute..."_

Carefully, she peeked around the wall again. Her eyes widened at the scorch marks and debris scattered across the ground.

_"What happened here?!"_ She wondered in awe. _"Could this be from the animal that was causing a ruckus before?!"_

"What kind of creature causes this much destruction...?" Lucy noticed the magic barrier covering the gaping hole where the door to the animal's cell must have once been. The magic residue behind the guards was amazingly high, and the heat was intense. Lucy felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand.

_"This magic is incredible...what exactly is this?"_

She narrowed here eyes through all the smoke to get a better look at the mysterious creature beyond the barrier.

_"It seems kind of small..."_ The air cleared, revealing a still figure leaning against the wall. A head, two legs, two arms...

"A-A boy?!" She exclaimed, eyes wide in shock. She then remembered the guards and clamped her mouth shut with her hand.

"A human boy...?!"

There was no mistaking it. It was a teenage boy, probably around her age. He was dressed in tattered rags with holes that seemed as if they were burned into him. Black soot dirtied his entire body from his head to his bare feet. His head was lowered, unkempt, salmon hair concealing his face. He was so still that he almost seemed dead, but the magic radiating from his body was so strong that Lucy felt he was going to attack at any moment.

"Did he do all this?" Lucy wondered in disbelief. "How...? Is he a wizard?"

_"Do they trade powerful wizards for money as well?"_

Tight hand cuffs dug into the skin of the boy's wrist, the skin surrounding it pale from the lack of blood circulation. His legs were also cuffed, and a tight collar was clamped around his neck. She couldn't believe that the boy was actually able to breathe.

"How horrible..." Lucy spat. _"But that noise from before...that roar definitely didn't sound human...was it someone else?"_

She took another look at all the destruction. _"Nope. Definitely him."_

_"But he sounded so...sad and lonely...like he was crying..."_

"I have to save him!" Lucy decided. "After all, I'm a Fairy Tail wizard!"

She took a deep breath and stepped out of hiding.

"H-Hey! Who are you?!" One of the wizards exclaimed.

"She's the Fairy Tail wizard!"

"Dammnit! How'd she escape?!"

"I'll show you how wrong it is to mess with Fairy Tail!" She declared. Determined, she brought out another key. "Open! Gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"

A tall, muscular cow appeared before her, a long axe in hand.

"Mooooo! I'll destroy any of my sexy owner's enemies!" Taurus brought down his axe, easily knocking out the wizards before they could defent themselves.

"Ha!" Lucy held up her thumb smugly. "Piece of cake!"

"Will you reward me with that sexy body of yours?" Taurus demanded. Lucy shivered and pointed to the magic barrier. "No thank you. Instead, could you please destroy that magic barrier?"

"This?" Taurus took one quick look at the barrier, then gripped his axe. "No problem!" He brought his axe down onto the barrier. The blade of the axe wedged itself into the barrier, forming a large crack that spread out until the barrier was at its limit. In a flash of light, the barrier dissipated.

_"That's weird..."_ Lucy wondered. _"The barrier was pretty weak..."_

"Thank, Taurus." Lucy held up the cow's key. "You can go back now."

"Already? That was it?" Taurus exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah." Lucy sighed. Taurus pouted, disappointed, but left.

"Oh, right! The boy!"

She ran over to the boy, who, for some reason, hadn't moved at all. She knelt down in front of him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"H-Hey! Are you okay?"

No response.

"Can you get up?" She asked in worry "Don't worry, you're safe now! I'll bust you out of-!"

A flash of pink cut her off. Before she knew it, she was pinned against the wall, feet dangling above the ground, a strong hand gripping her neck tightly. She gasped for air, struggling to reach for her keys. She slowly opened her eyes, and a shaky gasp escaped her lips.

She found herself face to face with the very boy she had just saved, his dark, fiery eyes burning through her own.

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